


Screwed

by Gurrennn (Zerrat)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Ikea-related sexual tension, Vague Post-Canon AU, White Rose Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 00:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/pseuds/Gurrennn
Summary: Ruby and Weiss move into their new apartment in Vale to help with the CCT recovery. Forget the creatures of Grimm - as far as Weiss is concerned, flatpack is as evil as it comes.





	Screwed

**Author's Note:**

> Fluffy fill for the prompt "domestic". I just wanted to have a bit of fun with this one and ever since I saw the tag "IKEA related sexual tension" a month or two back, I knew I wanted to do this.
> 
> Don't think too hard on this one!
> 
> Edit 13 July 2017: altered the title just slightly, because tehhojo is way better at titles than I am. ;-;

Ruby's breath was a rasp by the time she skidded to a halt outside the apartment complex in downtown Vale, her sneakers squeaking and slipping on the damp, cracked pavement amongst all the stray rose petals. Yelping, she pitched forward half a step, the cardboard pizza boxes stacked in her arms collapsing dangerously beneath her grasp as she only barely kept her balance. 

Heaving a sigh of relief and glad she hadn't monumentally messed up dinner, Ruby reached up, pulling her earbuds out mid-song and shoving them back into her pocket in a tangled snarl. Her risk with the semblance-boosted run had paid off! The pizza was still hot, at least judging by the bottom of the box, and that would totally impress Weiss, right?

Cheerful, Ruby took the steps up to the complex's main door two at a time, hitting the buzzer for their apartment number with her elbow. There was only silence, the crackle of aged intercom systems enough to turn Ruby's thoughts from pizza to questions of wiring, but she tried to put them out of mind. A dozen or so seconds passed, and with no answer from Weiss, Ruby rejuggled her stack of pizza boxes and plastic bags to free up a hand, fishing her keycard out of her pocket and swiping it to open the door. 

She could hardly blame Weiss for the lack of response--moving days were intense at the best of times, and she knew Weiss was taking their whole first apartment thing really seriously. 

Enough to seriously _stress,_ too. 

That was why Ruby had taken it upon herself to pick up something nostalgic for dinner. Team RWBY had frequented the shop back when they'd attended Beacon, and for all Weiss' sighing and sniping during the first visit or two, Ruby knew she'd taken a liking to it.

The apartment block's lift wasn't working--the yellowing warning sign and dusty, peeling tape made Ruby pretty certain it hadn't seen real use since Beacon fell--so she took the stairs up to their third floor apartment. The lodging was 'budget', as Weiss had accused it earlier that day, but that was kind of the point. 

Vale had been hit hard by the war, the first of the kingdoms to fall, the pieces of it still broken and dangerous, for all the citizens had made the most of a bad situation. For now, the city desperately needed hunters on-site for the CCT recovery effort, and considering all the Grimm that had made nests of Beacon's ruins...

Well, Ruby and Weiss hadn't really discussed what they were going to do following the end of the war. Both of them had just seemed to _know_ without saying that this--Vale, where everything had begun--was where they were needed the most. It was just also a bonus that Goodwitch had offered them a heck of a discount on rent, _and_ , well...

Ruby was really glad she got to move into her first apartment with her partner-turned-girlfriend. It was going to have been a pretty lengthy commute between Atlas and Patch, she'd joked--maybe just a little seriously. 

Humming beneath her breath, Ruby jogged down their floor's hallway to their apartment's scuffed up door. While this district had been cleared of monsters for months, the door was still marred by old claw marks. Ruby was pretty sure a beowolf had been at it at some point, _which didn't make it tacky, it gave it character, Weiss, gosh_ \--and she bounced it open with her hip just in time to catch Weiss snarl a dozen obscenities beneath her breath. Ruby paused, her entire body cringing at the sound of cheap metal screws getting stripped down by angry fumbling. 

"Weiss?" Ruby ventured, cautious, the pizza boxes and bags of soda balanced precariously in one arm as she wove down their apartment's narrow hallway--the length of it choked up with boxes of Ruby's belongings from Patch and what little of Weiss' things Klein had been able to send over from Atlas--and into the living room. 

Weiss was sitting in the middle of the floor, empty boxes broken down and neatly stacked against one of the walls with a precision that... was actually a little alarming, because Weiss was only ever that exacting when she was on the warpath. 

She was staring at a manual, lying open in her lap, the various pieces of flatpack laid out in front of her like the pieces of a puzzle, one of Ruby's cross-recess screwdrivers in her hands. She didn't look up as Ruby drew near, a muscle along her jaw jumping as she flicked a page with probably more force than strictly necessary. 

"Oh, you started assembling the furniture without me?" Ruby asked, trying to lighten the mood and not beg Weiss _why_. She set the pizza boxes and bags down next to the stacks of cardboard by the wall, taking the spot on the carpet next to Weiss, her legs curled beneath her. When Weiss again didn't reply, she tilted her head, leaning in closer as she prompted, "Hey, you okay in there?"

"This is ridiculous." 

"Um--" Ruby tried, and she winced as Weiss growled and threw the screwdriver at the ground with enough force to bounce across the carpet. Ruby's gaze tracked it as it rolled, watching it come to a rest against another stack of boxes, before turning her attention back to Weiss. "Do you maybe want to talk about it?"

"I have been staring at this-- _whatever_ this over-elaborate _thing_ is, for the better part of an hour!" Weiss snapped, pressing the heel of her palm to her temple as she cast Ruby a furious, sidelong glare. "Do not mistake me, Ruby, I am _one more_ broken screw away from launching the entire thing out the window!"

This--this was exactly why Ruby had kind of expected Weiss would simply wait on her return, instead of taking it upon herself to do _everything_. But, now that Ruby had identified the real source of Weiss' anger, it... actually was a little funny. And probably also the result of stubborn Schnee pride getting the better of her. 

She wasn't about to say that to Weiss, though. 

"I mean, don't get me wrong, that sounds actually kind of cool to watch, but--" Ruby paused, chewing on her lower lip as she squinted toward the apartment's window. "Well. The falling debris might hurt someone and that would be bad, don't you think?"

Weiss' eyes narrowed in thought, flickering back toward the offending pieces of cheap furniture. "I suppose fire would be far more satisfying. Thank you for the suggestion, I knew I was fond of you for a reason."

"Yeah, I--wait, no, that's not what I meant! We're not gonna be burning anything!" Heaving a put-upon sigh, Ruby scrambled to her hands and knees, scooping up the screwdriver where it had fallen. Settling back down next to Weiss, she held her free hand out for the instructions. 

When Weiss only scowled at her, she crooked her fingers, more insistent. 

"Fine," Weiss huffed, shoving them in Ruby's face in disgust. "But I assure you, you'll have no better luck than I." 

"Maybe!" Ruby flicked the manual open, taking a quick look at the first few pages, before casting a dubious eye over the array of flatpack on the carpet. Weiss had tried, that was obvious, but there were a few little mistakes that had made the going pretty rough. Weiss wasn't bad at this sort of thing, she was just... very much letting her temper ride shotgun, and that wasn't really helping her. "I mean, I'm happy to take that risk, because I got this stuff super cheap."

"Obviously." 

Weiss' tone practically dripped venom, but it was easy enough to shrug off. Ruby knew it was directed at a faceless corporation based out of eastern Vale, not herself, and tossing the screwdriver up and down with restless energy, she hid a small smile. 

"If I can't get it, then you can totally burn the whole _apartment_ to ashes in petty revenge, if that'll make you feel better! Okay? So this is... some sort of cabinet?" Ruby reached for the piece of flimsy chipboard Weiss had been working on, eyeing the stripped down screws. She sighed. She had some proper ones squirrelled away in some of her bags that would work far better than these, so at least they weren't completely out of luck. 

"It's a sideboard," Weiss said, the word practically dragged from between her teeth. 

"...sure." Ruby shrugged. A cabinet with a specific name, then. "Okay, I think I get it." 

"You have to be joking." Weiss gestured sharply to the manual, where it had been carefully laid flat against the carpet at Ruby's knee. "Those instructions make absolutely no sense, Ruby Rose."

Ruby hummed beneath her breath, happy to ignore Weiss for now, craning her neck to take a quick look at the next strange diagram. Nodding to herself, she grabbed two of the likely-sized pieces, carefully removing the damaged screws before pausing to replace them with a stronger set she ended up fishing out of the bags she'd stacked in their bedroom. 

Resuming her seat back on the carpet, squinting and turning the pieces of cheap wood back and forth, she flipped one over. The joins now lined up much more easily, and satisfied, Ruby deftly screwed them together, ignoring the near physical weight of Weiss' gaze as she worked. It was only when she'd done the same with all the pieces Weiss had almost figured out that she finally dared cast her partner a fleeting, victorious smile. 

Weiss' eyes were narrowed, her expression deeply suspicious. "That is absolutely not what those diagrams indicated. At all."

"I mean, are you sure?" Ruby's eyebrows rose, and carefully, she lined up the next set of pieces, moving quickly now that she could see the design logic of the piece. When Weiss didn't reply, she paused, trying to make her smile more reassuring. "Weiss, I'm just good at this stuff. You know that!"

"And I'm not?" Weiss crossed her arms against her chest, her brow creasing in a frown. She looked aside, defensive. "I am perfectly fine with _spatial thinking,_ if that's what you're trying to imply. I keep up with _you_ in battle, after all." 

"And I totally appreciate how awesome at it you are, but that's not really the same thing." 

Weiss snorted beneath her breath, very obviously seething, but allowed Ruby to continue to work without further comment. She at least had the grace to help out when Ruby needed her to hold the pieces steady, even if she did mutter beneath her breath once or twice. 

Finally, maybe a good half hour after they'd begun in earnest, the cabinet was complete. It was plain and boring, and definitely lacked the flair of vivid colour Ruby loved best, but that was what paint was for, wasn't it? 

Pulling back and pushing her hair away from her face, Ruby smiled across at Weiss. "Done. Wasn't that hard!"

"By all means, rub it in harder." Weiss' mouth twisted, irritable as she waved a hand. "Perhaps you can sleep on the couch tonight--after you finish building it, that is."

"Oh my god, you are such a killjoy today," Ruby said with a laugh, shifting closer, wrapping herself all around Weiss in a clinging, full-body hug. She let her forehead flop down against the back of Weiss' neck, inhaling the warm scent of her, letting it warm that old ache in her chest and fill it with the joy of just being together. "I know you don't want to hear it right now, but I think it's cute."

"Don't even try to sweet talk your way back into my good graces," Weiss grumbled. 

"Oh. Well, if you say so." Ruby hummed beneath her breath then, pressing a slow kiss to the spot behind Weiss' ear that always earned a response. 

Weiss didn't disappoint, and she shifted in a vain attempt to disguise the shiver Ruby felt run through her as she scoffed, "Very funny."

"You said no talking! Nothing about kisses." Ruby paused then, turning her mouth against Weiss' ear, nipping at the shell of it just to hear Weiss' breath to catch. " _Or_ anything else." 

"You're impossible." Weiss swallowed, a loudness to it before she cast a look toward the pizza boxes, stone cold and right where Ruby had left them earlier. "Didn't you go to all that trouble to get food?"

"Nice timing on finally caring about the already-cold pizza." Ruby rested her chin against Weiss' shoulder, pressing a kiss to the skin beneath the thin shirt, breathing deep again. She'd been messing about at first, but now... she let her lips trail back to Weiss' collar, murmuring against her skin, "Not totally obvious at all." 

Weiss' fingers settled over the back of Ruby's hands, tracing old scars and new with absent familiarity. 

"You _did_ seem hungry, earlier," Weiss said, a note of genuine concern in her voice as she finally began to emerge from her bad mood. Ruby could practically feel her thawing out, and pleased, she buried her face against the side of Weiss' neck, nuzzling the soft skin. 

"I don't mind. I've waited this long." 

Weiss snorted beneath her breath, leaning into Ruby's hold as she asked, "Why, exactly?"

"For you." Ruby shifted, leaning forward just far enough to press her mouth to Weiss' in a soft, lingering kiss, and it was really far too easy to find herself lost in sensation and reaction. She was as fixated on the detail of Weiss as vividly as she was on Crescent Rose, both of them masterpieces, both of them as vital to Ruby as air itself. 

Before she could find herself too far gone, Ruby drew back, shifting to face Weiss properly.

"I don't know... this is our first apartment, and I'm with my first girlfriend and we get to be cranky with one another while putting together furniture, and I just think we can totally celebrate that." Ruby swallowed, hard, reaching out to draw her thumb across the line of Weiss' jaw, meeting her questioning gaze. "I didn't really think we'd ever get to have... this."

Weiss leaned into her touch, clasping Ruby's hand with her own. She sighed, finally releasing the last dregs of whatever old worries had been playing around in her head and putting her on edge. "Sorry for being a little... snappy, today. I just want this to work out, and I've never..." 

Weiss didn't elaborate, and Ruby didn't need to push her for detail. Weiss had always put too much pressure on herself, kept things inside--not that Ruby could talk, at times--but this was the first time Weiss had gotten to be normal like this since Beacon. 

And Ruby wasn't about to let another moment of their future go to waste. 

"You don't need--" Ruby pressed a kiss to Weiss' cheek, "--to do anything special--" to her ear, "--for us to work. We just gotta be us." 

The final kiss she turned against the side of Weiss' throat, open and lingering, her tongue tracing artless circles against the soft skin. Too easy to get lost in sensation, Ruby had thought, but right now she wasn't sure she really cared to hold back. Why even bother holding back at all?

"Right." Weiss' exhale was sharp as Ruby pulled her closer, a roughness to her voice as she said, "All of our stuff is still in boxes, Ruby. We've got a lot of work to do, so isn't it a little early to _celebrate_?"

Pleased that Weiss had totally picked up on what she'd meant by celebrate, Ruby stifled a low laugh against Weiss' collarbone. "I mean, I didn't say anything about only celebrating _once_." 

Ruby felt Weiss shiver, felt her pull away. There was heat in Weiss' eyes as she threaded her fingers back through Ruby's hair, and she felt herself respond immediately to the sweet thrill striking up in her veins at the sight. She leaned in close, her hand curling in Weiss' collar.

"You're an idiot. If a sweet one," Weiss told her, and Ruby didn't have time to enjoy the sight of her reluctant smile before she felt the curve of it instead, the remaining distance between them vanishing as Weiss kissed her. 

Weiss' kiss held none of her earlier defensiveness, the heat of her mouth open and demanding, her fingers drawing goosebumps along the nape of Ruby's neck as they tracked along skin. Ruby gasped into her mouth, pushing back hard into Weiss, pure instinct. The fingers she'd buried in Weiss' shirt twisted tight, dragging them always closer. Ruby needed her--needed to feel the raw, jagged heat hidden in Weiss, needed it with an intensity that left her breathless

Ruby's head was swimming by the time Weiss pulled away, her entire body alive with the buzz of electricity searing through her veins, bracing herself hard against Weiss' shoulder and certain she'd forgotten how to breathe. 

Only when she was confident she wasn't going to fall on her face, Ruby swallowed, her voice ragged as she managed, "I'm a sweet idiot who will totally put together _every_ single bit of furniture in here, if you kiss me like that again." 

"You're rather easily bought." Weiss' cheeks were red as she searched Ruby's expression, flustered by the flattery and the filthy intention Ruby absolutely _hoped_ Weiss was reading. The tiny, pleased smile on her lips sent Ruby's heart pounding as she finally conceded, "I... like the sound of that."

"Likewise," Ruby replied, letting her delight spill out into a mischievous grin. With a contented sigh, she wrapped her arms around Weiss' neck, tugging her back down to the carpet in another searing kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> If you look closely, you can see the exact moment I chickened out on the smut. ;p


End file.
